


Palace

by nightwalker365



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Internalized Homophobia, Kaiba is Kaiba, M/M, Major Character Death is Canon, Neurodiversity, Prideshipping, angst for the reader, best when listened to with palace by hayley kiyoko, but he is a side note, kaiba doesn't care about your angst, kaiba doesn't care about your opinion, kaiba is also a little dumb about emotions, kaiba is possibly too controlling, kaiba knows too much about domino city, kaiba records all the shit that happens in domino city, kaiba says fuck heteronormativity, kaiba's long lost love, leon isn't a bad guy, mokuba loves his big brother, mokuba wants to help his big brother, vr games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24694492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightwalker365/pseuds/nightwalker365
Summary: His Nii-sama would not, in all of this time, take a lover.But he doesn’t look. Doesn’t even seem interested in looking. Which Mokuba admits he is confused by.Until he realizes that there was no way his Nii-sama would invite someone into the family that would displace Mokuba.After everything that they had gone through, his Nii-sama wouldn’t let someone in because it would put Mokuba in a bad position.Then, Mokuba starts to take it personally.
Relationships: Implied Yami Yugi/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto & Yami Yuugi
Comments: 15
Kudos: 60





	Palace

Before he was a businessman, Seto Kaiba was an inventor. He was a creator. This is the thing that Mokuba runs up against time and time again with his brother. He learned to be a businessman from their adoptive father, but he was always a creator. 

Mokuba Kaiba is not a natural creator. Mokuba has to learn to do most of the things that come easily to his Nii-sama, and generally this doesn’t bother him. It reminds him that his Nii-sama is one of the greatest inventors of their time. Fuck Steve Jobs and his theft of invention and code. Mokuba would bet his next paycheck that if his Nii-sama had the chance to compete with Steve Jobs in terms of inventions he would kick Steve Jobs’ _ass._

After returning from the land of the Dead, his Nii-sama went through a creative phase. Mokuba, by this time, has learned to handle most of their business affairs. In the case that his Nii-sama didn’t come back, Mokuba would need to handle and eventually take over Kaiba Corporation. It had been done before, by his Nii-sama when he was younger than Mokuba is now. But the thought of going through the rest of his life in charge of Kaiba Corp. The thought of going through the rest of his _life_ without his older brother had been—heart stopping. 

Mokuba had expected the grief of seeing the Pharaoh and then leaving him again would have been crippling. Even his brother, who by all accounts was indomitable had been brought to his knees by the Pharaoh. More than once. 

Instead, his brother returned, left Mokuba in charge of Kaiba Corp.’s business deals, and went on to make two different VR games, reorganize and divide the game design department, and create plans for two more KaibaLand Parks in Hong Kong and the UK. 

He did not let anyone touch the KC space elevator system. Or the Duel Dimension Cannon. He didn’t retire them either, which gave Mokuba nightmares about his brother disappearing into the Duel Dimension Cannon and leaving Mokuba behind with only a note and the rest of the company. 

But his Nii-sama doesn’t go back up the satellite. He refines and tests his games. He plans and discusses possibilities regarding KaibaLand. He starts a dueling school. Plans multiple tournaments in different locations around the world. Two in the new KaibaLand parks, attracting international attention. 

In his next business meeting with Pegasus regarding his contract with Kaiba Corp. he said, “well, Kaiba boy has been plenty busy lately, hasn’t he?” 

Despite not having the Millenium Eye, the man was still good at reading people. And Mokuba knew that he was plenty readable to the psychopath. 

Even though Mokuba’s not of age, it’s clear that his brother trusts him with quite a lot of decisions. He doesn’t say anything when Mokuba hires Leon as a Duel Links tester and later as a professional Duelist in KaibaLand America. He doesn’t say anything when the two of them start to spend more time together. He doesn’t say anything when gossip magazines start discussing their ‘bromance.’ 

Or when they move in together for the most unfortunate three month decision of Mokuba’s life. 

All he does is ask Mokuba if he wants it to be taken care of. Mokuba will admit, he’s not sure if his brother means it in a yakuza way or in a big brother way. He’s not sure his brother thinks there’s a difference. 

He says no. Tells his brother he loves him. Then, the next time he hangs out with Yugi and his gang they bitch about Leon until Mokuba is laughing. Even Mokuba will admit there’s something petty and deeply satisfying that Leon’s idol, _Yugi_ is _his_ friend first. 

He also can’t help the grateful relief that he had never discussed magic Pharaohs and Millenium Items with Leon after all. _That_ was a whole separate issue to unpack. 

Leon decides to leave Kaiba Corporation, go back to Germany, and Rebecca steps into his place. She’s not of age yet, but she’s already graduated college and is looking for a job to help her out with the cost of her graduate studies. It turns out that university in America is as disgustingly expensive as you would expect. Another good reason to enrol in Kaiba Corp.’s dueling school, Mokuba thinks and adds in tuition reduction and loan relief options for the particularly skilled duelists as a part of the marketing package. 

Over the years, Kaiba Corporation will establish dueling as something almost equivalent to currency within society. It was a marker by which someone could get status, money, contracts, access to networks and institutions. They would change the way people interacted not only with games but with their imagination and the world. 

His Nii-sama would not, in all of this time, take a lover. 

Mokuba only notices because he has been waiting for it, imagining what kind of person it would be, since he considered it for himself. He wants to know who his Nii-sama would be attracted to. What kind of person would she be? What would be her goals? Would she like Mokuba? 

These were the questions that determined the fate and legacy of Empires in history and would now probably determine Mokuba’s inheritance. 

But he doesn’t look. Doesn’t even seem _interested_ in looking. Which Mokuba admits he is confused by. 

Until he realizes that there was no way his Nii-sama would invite someone into the family that would displace Mokuba. 

After everything that they had gone through, his Nii-sama wouldn’t let someone in because it would put _Mokuba_ in a bad position. 

Then, Mokuba starts to take it personally.

—

“Nii-sama,” Mokuba says with another set of papers in his hand. Kaiba refuses to sigh at his passive refusal to use their computer system for personal data. Since a hacker found their way into Kaiba’s medical files, Mokuba has been extra careful about what he access on their personal network. Kaiba tries not to take it personally. “Let’s go have dinner.”

The request is immediately suspicious. It’s a Wednesday. The Kaiba brothers always have dinner on Fridays or Saturdays. They know the routine so the question is never asked. It is always, “when are we leaving?” 

Then there is the sheaf of papers. Mokuba generally doesn’t carry around papers unless they relate to private matters or he is going to take a flight and refuses to use the wifi to work. 

Mokuba did not have any travel planned for the next forty eight hours in their planner. If Kaiba remembers, the only plan outside of work wasn’t even labeled correctly. Which usually means Mokuba was in a hurry. But also possible, that he didn’t want to let Kaiba know what would be happening. 

“Why?”

Immediate doe eyes. Even more suspicious. “You don’t want to have dinner with me Nii-sama?” 

“Dinner is on Fridays.”

“Why can’t we have dinner tonight?” 

“Because dinner is on Fridays.”

“What if I want to have dinner tonight?”

“Is the Nerd Herd going to be there?” Kaiba narrows his eyes. If he’s not lost more days than he thought, the Nerd Herd should be busy with Yugi and Anzu’s anniversary, Jounouchi is too broke to afford dinner unless it was on someone else’s dime, and Honda was working double shifts this week. Bakura is almost never ‘busy’ but he’s not particularly close to Mokuba from what Kaiba’s gathered.

“What—no,” Mokuba looks at his brother. “And you said you didn’t mind seeing them sometimes.” 

“ _Sometimes,”_ Kaiba repeats because apparently it bears repeating. He doesn’t think Mokuba quite understands just how much he doesn’t enjoy Yugi and his little gang. Trust them—probably. _Like them_ —no. Particularly since the only one worth talking to is living in another dimension. 

“You know the last time we saw them was about a month ago, right?” 

Kaiba grunts and doesn’t say anything else. Sometimes is a nicely vague term that worked for all of them. Mostly Kaiba. 

“I want to have dinner with you,” Mokuba says again, insistently. “Please come.” 

“Where?” 

Mokuba names a steakhouse that Kaiba enjoys. Which means he made reservations. Kaiba wonders if this means he’s going to ask if he can date that Rebecca girl. Decent hacker, decent duelist. Possibly worth Mokuba’s time. 

“Fine.” 

They go. 

Kaiba will admit, under severe pressure with a particular audience, that Mokuba taking over most of Kaiba Corp.’s business isn’t necessarily good for his social interaction. Kaiba is not a social person. Even on a good day. Creating, designing, planning, and _dueling_ is where his heart lives. While Kaiba is enjoying how often he gets to do this, he is significantly less willing to be around people than before. This is, perhaps, not excellent for him. 

_Perhaps._

So when the two of them run into an acquaintance of Mokuba’s at the steakhouse, Kaiba says little beyond a greeting. He listens mostly. She is an inventor of her own. Interested in the biomedical field and turning most of her focus into Kaiba’s recent discoveries involving the interconnected consciousness that he had been integrating into his technologies prior to the Dimension Cannon. He can understand her interest. How science and technology, if applied correctly, could help them understand more about diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and possible cures. 

He will admit she might make some breakthroughs. 

But Yugi’s warnings run through his mind. He knows there is only so far one person can go without inviting something else to the table. She is smart, interested, and ambitious. But likely not ambitious enough to gain more than a few interesting breakthroughs and coming up to the barrier that prevents most organisms from traveling through dimensions. 

_There cannot be a second time, Kaiba._ Those dark eyes glinting, almost impossibly brighter than the gold of his earrings. _You can only do this once before endangering them all._

Of course, he says it like they all matter. 

Perhaps to Yugi, they do. Yugi has always cared unnecessarily much over people who mean nothing to him. 

A King. He reminds himself. He is a King. It’s his job to care for his subjects. That was the intended function of the King before human greed twisted the role into something evil. Something choking. 

Dinner passes without Kaiba saying much. Mokuba is unnecessarily put out in the car ride home. 

“Why were you so quiet?” He finally asks. 

Kaiba raises an eyebrow. Mokuba can’t see him in the dark. Why on earth Mokuba would expect _Kaiba_ to talk with his friend, he didn’t know.

“Did expect me to be loud?”

“Well,” Mokuba says. Then pauses. “I mean, she was interesting right?” 

“If you’re asking me if we can hire her, do it.” 

“ _No,_ that’s not—“ Mokuba breaks off with an angry noise. “I mean—“

Kaiba can hear Mokuba rub his face angrily. “Didn’t you like her?”

Disbelief is the only thing that keeps Kaiba from rage. “ _Like her?”_

“I mean, she was smart, right? And goal-oriented? And interested in the research you’ve done. And—“

“Did you intend that to be a _date?”_

“ _No,_ I mean, why would _I_ go on a date with you?” Mokuba says. Not fully answering the question Kaiba is asking. He swallows.

“I just—I hoped you would like her.” He sounded upset. Upset and sad. Kaiba also swallows, so as not to let any anger in. 

_You are greater than this, Seto Kaiba._

“Mokuba, I have no intention of dating.”

There’s a shift in the quiet. Something fragile. “...ever?”

“Ever,” Kaiba says. 

“But—“

“I’m not going to _change my mind_ Mokuba.” Kaiba rarely changes his mind. Particularly about interpersonal relationships. The last person to convince him to change his mind had fucked off to another dimension.

Mokuba swallows again. This time it sounds like he’s trying not to cry. Kaiba is baffled.

“You’re upset.” 

“ _Of course I’m—“_ He stops. Breathes a few times. “I want you to be happy.” 

“Happy?” Kaiba says. He has no idea what Mokuba is thinking. “Why would I—I am happy.” 

But Kaiba’s quick change of tac doesn’t go unnoticed. If anything it makes Mokuba _more upset._

What.

“I just—I’m sorry.” 

Kaiba stares at him. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t even know what Mokuba is apologizing for. That’s what keeps him up during his scheduled sleep hours. 

—

Yugi is so stupidly happy with Anzu, even doing long distance, that Mokuba is pretty sure he won’t be any help. Worst case scenario they’ll all decide that his brother is too broken for a partner and tell Mokuba he should be grateful that he won’t have any competition for the company when he dies. 

But, of course, that’s not how it goes. Yugi and his friends are never what Mokuba expects them to be. 

He tells them what happens. He expects them, or at least Jounouchi to make a comment. How oblivious his brother is. How ridiculous it would be for _his brother_ to be interested in anyone. 

“That sucks dude,” Honda says. 

“Yeiip,” Jounouchi says strangely. Mokuba frowns and wonders if he’s copying that popular new idol. She’s cute, but not cute enough for a grown man to copy her stuff and everyone to understand. 

“It must be hard,” Yugi says. He has a way of piercing through Mokuba’s story right to the heart of what he’s saying. “Especially if you feel like he’s not dating because of you.” 

Mokuba swallows and looks down. This was the thing about Yugi. He makes you feel like you’ve come home and regressed to the age of five at the same time. 

“But, I mean,” Yugi bites his lip and watches the way Jounouchi eats his donut in three bites with the long suffering look of a friend. “Does Kaiba-kun want to date?”

The question sort of sits over them. While he had been braced for, _your brother is too crazy to date,_ he hadn’t quite considered whether Nii-sama _wanted to_ or not. 

Yugi isn’t even looking at him with condescension. He’s looking at Mokuba like he has the answer. It hurts when he has to say, “I don’t know.” 

Yugi leans back in his seat, sipping his tea slowly. “Knowing Kaiba-kun, I could see that he wouldn’t formally get involved with anyone to make sure that you don’t have to worry about competition.” 

Mokuba nods, yeah. He can see that. He can imagine his brother coming to that same conclusion. 

“But I also don’t know that Kaiba-kun was ever interested in dating in the first place.”

Jounouchi and Honda agree. “Yeah. I mean, that stuck up bas—guy has always had girls throwing themselves at him right?”

Honda nods. “Yep. Especially when he’s throwing tournaments and stuff.”

Mokuba leans on his knees. “But can you actually imagine my brother dating one of those women?” 

Then Bakura, who had stayed mostly silent, says, “Does he even like women?” 

“Wha—I—Uh,” Jou says, then falls off his seat. 

Even Yugi is looking at Bakura with wide eyes. Bakura just shrugs at all of them. “Well, it’s an important question to ask, isn’t it?” 

Mokuba swallows and tries not to imagine his brother— _nope._

“I, uh,” Honda says. “I mean, he’s never really been interested in men?”

“But he’s never really been interested in women either, right?” Bakura is still sitting there looking so innocent. 

“Why would my brother be _g—_ interested in men?” Mokuba hisses. 

Bakura just looks at him like _Mokuba_ is overreacting. “Maybe he doesn’t like either. It doesn’t have to be men.”

There’s a moment where they are all just sitting there with that. None of them are sure of what to say. Yugi, of course, breaks the silence. 

“Well, that’s a thought,” he says. “Let’s let Mokuba think about this. It’s a lot.”

A lot is right.

—

It takes Mokuba a day. 

Okay, it takes Mokuba twenty seven hours, not including sleep to think about his brother’s sexuality. He did his research. Found out that not only is there a range of sexualities, but there are also people who don’t feel romantic love at all. 

Mokuba thinks that his brother would identify as asexual or aromantic before gay. 

Admittedly, all of the gay men Mokuba has heard of wear dresses or are on Queer Eye. Mokuba knows his brother isn’t like _any of them._

Mokuba will admit that his idea of gay men has mostly been influenced by tv shows and Leon. Queer Eye is great, but it’s absolutely not his brother’s style. And, Leon, well—the less said about that the better. 

So Mokuba researches that too. He learns more about gay men than he ever wanted to know in his life and realizes that his brother’s style not matching with normative gay culture doesn’t exclude him from the identity. And he was probably dealing with some internalized homophobia. 

If his brother is gay, Mokuba will accept and love him no matter what. 

But, secretly, he does think that his brother probably hasn’t thought much about it either. It isn’t practical and his Nii-sama isn’t the sort of guy to worry about something like sexuality unless it was immediately relevant. 

Unless—

He’d researched it when Mokuba had moved in with Leon. 

Oh _shit._

—

Isono brings it to Kaiba’s attention first. They never discuss how much of Kaiba’s and Mokuba’s personal information Isono shares between them, but they both know that Isono will rat them out to each other with efficiency and without remorse. 

There are thirty six personal phone calls occurring between Mokuba and Rebecca Hawthorne in the span of three days. Kaiba only knows they are personal because he cross-referenced the calls with Mokuba’s network activity and schedule. They have no open projects that would require thirty six phone calls. 

Kaiba will admit that Rebecca Hawthorne is a better candidate as Mokuba’s partner than Leon von Schroeder. Mostly because having to coordinate or speak with Zigfried von Schroeder in any capacity makes Kaiba want to vomit. 

There was also an increased frequency in which Mokuba has been meeting Yugi and his lovesick lackeys. The noticeable part of that is his lack of invitation for Kaiba to join them. Instead, Mokuba had been coordinating their meetings while Kaiba is busy. 

This is when Kaiba tells Isono to pull records of the meetings. If Mokuba and Rebecca were engaging in phone coitus, Kaiba will allow Mokuba that level of privacy. But Mokuba and the sappy lovesick gang? That is fair game. 

The video of the meetings is the opposite of what Kaiba expected. 

Once he pulls those videos, he tells Isono to get him transcripts of Mokuba and Rebecca’s phone calls. 

The transcripts are notably longer than the recordings with Yugi and his friends, but Kaiba pushes through the mess of them. And they truly are a mess. Mokuba spends most of the time panicking and vacillating between Kaiba finding out about his research or planning for him to do so as a way of ascertaining his sexuality. 

Kaiba does not like that Mokuba has discussed his sexuality with his entire social group, but Kaiba will admit that Mokuba did have it right when he told Rebecca, _I don’t think he even cares about it. It’s not related to work so he probably hasn’t even looked into it._

Why Mokuba gave a shit about this in the first place baffles Kaiba. 

He reasons that this is because of the biomedical researcher and Kaiba’s complete lack of interest. 

But what would prompt Mokuba’s interest in his love life at all? 

He pulls up records of earlier meetings with Yugi, perhaps one of them said something stupid. 

Then he hears it, “ _it must be hard, especially if you think he’s not dating because of you.”_

Fucking runt. 

_That’s beneath you Kaiba._

Kaiba takes a breath in. Perhaps Mokuba’s preoccupation with his own love life is bleeding into some kind of misplaced concern for Kaiba’s. It is also a natural way to divert attention away from one’s own problems. 

It is, Kaiba also notices, in a roundabout way good, since Mokuba is deepening his own relationships with others outside of Kaiba and grounding himself in his own future. 

_There will be no future if people look only towards death,_ was what he’d said. _They cannot know what lay beyond, or all that you live in will threaten to tear apart._

 _Then why come back at all?_ Seto remembers himself asking, yelling. _Why leave your perfect land of Death?_

Yugi hadn’t said anything. Kaiba wonders if he’s worked out that answer yet, or if it eludes him like a shadow. Clinging to the edge of understanding. Touching only at one point, but extending out to darken everything it touched.

Mokuba needs to look to the future. So Kaiba can keep his gaze where it needs to be. Where it will always be attracted. 

The truth is that Kaiba always knew the answers to the questions Mokuba is asking. He simply does not have need of them. 

Kaiba thinks about what Mokuba is hoping to find for him. He thinks about the lengths Mokuba will go to get counsel. He remembers the sound of the stone under his feet and he stood in the Palace of the Pharaoh. 

Kaiba wonders for the first time who else might want to talk to him. 

—

If Yugi’s being honest, he’s not actually worried about Kaiba at all. Regardless of his sexuality or choice in partner, Kaiba is Kaiba. Even if he wouldn’t take a lover because of Mokuba, Yugi can’t see Kaiba as regretting that choice. He’d probably say something like, ‘regrets are for idiots and pitiful fools.’ 

So instead of thinking about Kaiba’s personal preferences, Yugi thinks about his game design choices. The most interesting part of learning how to make games is how much access he has to the best game designer today. Kaiba’s new VR games are not only breakthroughs into the system. But the designs and world-building for both were completely different and the levels and skills required for both were diverse and separate. Playing one game didn’t help with playing the other. While there were storyline connections between the two, the designers clearly made two different games appealing to two different audiences. 

One was a fighting game, it was created to challenge and duel the various ancient rulers of history. There were a lot of historical references to various different time periods. Yugi isn’t surprised to find that Ancient Egypt’s ruler looks a lot like Atem. And that particular storyline doesn’t allow the player to actually defeat him. Only to work alongside him to defeat an evil force fighting to take his throne. 

The other game was clearly targeting a more feminine demographic. It involves people going to the Land of Duel Monsters and helping various duel monsters to improve the conditions of their home and work together in order to gain a team that can defeat the main boss. There were duels of course, but it was more about team building and understanding the environments for the different monsters. It was an amazing game for people who liked duel monsters but weren’t so interested in dueling. 

Yugi is sure he’s talked off Jou’s and Honda’s ears about how interesting and diverse the two games are, from a player’s point of view and from a design point of view. 

He probably plays both games a little too much to be considered research. But understanding how games are played—and what makes them interesting, is a part of what he’s trying to do. 

Another interesting point is that Kaiba Corp. releases extension packs for both games without much marketing. Actually most of the hardcore gamers shared that extension releases between each other and reviewed them on their social media. Yugi doesn’t need to be a genius to know that Kaiba’s done that on purpose. 

Yugi himself is a fan of games and had been even before Kaiba-kun became his friend, so he was one of those hardcore gamers that shared that kind of information. Kaiba-kun also usually sent him the extension packs himself.

So when the extension pack called Audience with the King comes in and doesn’t show up on any of the websites Yugi haunts, he’s suspicious. Kaiba-kun hadn’t sent it with a message not to discuss it so he’d asked around and it looked like Kaiba-kun had sent it to him first. 

Yugi admits to being curious. And mildly selfish about it. So instead of sharing information, Yugi shuts his computer and inputs the game pack into the VR console. 

The pack was an extension for the fighting game and Yugi admits he enjoys that one more. If nothing else, it was reminiscent of all their adventures together. 

It starts with a puzzle. It’s one of the circle puzzles made with some kind of cuneiform and Yugi quickly works out that you need a code to enter the extension pack. It takes some research, but Yugi puts it together and enters a palace. 

The palace is made of stone. There’s sunshine pouring through the open windows and no guards anywhere. If he had seen the guards, Yugi might have put it together earlier. 

Instead, he looks at the empty throne, also made of stone. The detail of the outside is astounding. Yugi can _hear_ the birds and shouts of people outside and—

The door opens. It’s heavy and wooden. There is the whisper of shoes on the stone and then Yugi sees him—

Really _sees him._

“Other me?” 

—

Kaiba sends Yugi the extension pack first. It’s not a secret, but Kaiba doesn’t know exactly how emotional his reaction will be. The only people who knew that he had created an avatar of the Other Yugi were the people who worked for him and Mokuba. 

Kaiba had made adjustments, of course, since Yugi doesn’t wear his Battle City outfit anymore. But the runt would recognize him no matter what he was wearing. Just as Kaiba would. 

And just as Kaiba did, Yugi will see the avatar for what it is, a soulless copy. Unsatisfying for someone who looks for the _soul of a King._

This was why Kaiba kept it in Kaiba Corp.’s reserves. It was useful for the moments when desperation clawed at him to the point of insomnia. But it no longer had any use, or any hold over him. Yugi wasn’t here. Yugi will never come back. Kaiba knows this. 

So does this Yugi. 

Perhaps, he will find the avatar as useless as Kaiba does. 

It is moments like this that Kaiba misses him the most. Misses that stupidly cocky smirk and the answers he has for everything. The way that he looks at people and sees potential in them that Kaiba does not. The way he looks at Kaiba and sees potential for something that Kaiba doesn’t yet understand. 

Kaiba leans back in his seat. There is nothing that will bring back the dead. There are only avatars made up of memories and the bitter taste that lingers in Kaiba’s mouth.

Some days, the fact that he lived once, walked this earth once, is not enough.

—

Mokuba gets called to Yugi’s house by Rebecca. Yugi had called most of them over, Mokuba realizes quickly that he’s the last one to be called. 

At first, he’s hurt. Then he realizes that it’s over a game extension pack and Mokuba feels slightly better. 

Jou is crying when he gets there. That’s his first clue that something is wrong. 

Then they tell him what his brother made. 

Mokuba has to sit down. He can’t quite believe it. Not because it’s out of his brother’s ability, it’s _obviously not._ But because it’s more emotional than his brother has ever gotten about the Pharaoh since he'd come back. And his brother has a _lot_ of emotions about the Pharaoh. 

Rebecca pushes the VR set into Mokuba’s hands and tells him he has to see it. 

Mokuba argues at first because _what._ He wasn’t _that_ close to the Pharaoh and it’s not like he couldn’t see it at home—

“Just do it,” she insists and makes him stand up. 

Jou insists that he has to solve the puzzle himself. Then he and Honda get into it about how Jou was supposed to solve it himself but he _didn’t,_ and Jou was the one who spent forty minutes on that damned thing—

Mokuba takes fifteen and enjoys Jou bitching about it in the background. 

Then he is in the palace. Admittedly, Jou complaining in the background isn’t very royal but—

Then he comes out. Steps out of the door and goes to sit on the throne. He calls him by name. Says, “hello Mokuba. Did you have a question?” 

The thing is, Mokuba’s seen the avatar before. He’s watched his brother duel it. He’s stood around it as the other designers took furious notes and cooed over the technological advancements that his brother made, for a _duel—_

And it’s only at this moment that he realizes just how much his brother had to have watched this guy, known this guy, _liked this guy_ to know how to recreate him as if he were real. 

Kaiba Corp.’s technology is hailed because of its realism. The way it straddles the line between the fantastical and reality. 

Mokuba is looking at a man he’s seen before. A man perfectly, painstakingly recreated from his brother’s memory. Down to the tone, down to the micromovements and microexpressions. 

Mokuba more than anyone in the room knows how difficult it is to program any robot and machine to seem human-like at all. Let alone like one person in particular. 

“Fuck _me,”_ he says. 

“That’s not very polite,” the avatar says back. “Also inappropriate.” 

Then he leans forward, one eyebrow rising in challenge. “You’re brother absolutely wouldn’t approve.” 

His brother doesn’t care what language Mokuba uses. He knows this. His Nii-sama knows this. But that is absolutely something the Other Yugi would say. Because he was stupidly honorable about that kind of stuff. 

Seto loved him.

“Fuck me,” Mokuba says again. Then takes the headset off. 

—

Yugi calls him crying, thanking Kaiba over and over. He says, “it was so nice to see him again.” Kaiba is glad Yugi can’t see him frown over the phone. 

He gives Kaiba some suggestions for what to say instead of, “did you have a question,” then tells him that if he wants to make it a part of the game that would be really awesome for them. 

Kaiba agrees and tells Yugi he’ll send him an updated game pack when it was done and Yugi should send the one he has back to Kaiba Corp. 

What Kaiba had not counted on is Mokuba coming home looking as if the soul was sucked out of him. 

“Mokuba?” Kaiba runs through the schedule Mokuba was supposed to have today. He was supposed to have ended the day on a meeting, nothing that would provoke an emotional reaction like _this—_

“Mokuba?” Kaiba kneels so he can look Mokuba in the eyes. “What happened?”

Instead of answering, Mokuba throws himself at Kaiba in a fierce hug that he hadn’t received since Duelist Kingdom. Kaiba hugs back, holding him just as tightly, swearing that he would do what was needed to make Mokuba happy again, whole again—

“I love you so much, Nii-sama,” he says. 

“I love you too,” Kaiba says back carefully. 

Mokuba tells him later that he watched a youtube video about brothers being separated. But, much later, when Kaiba looks through his browser history he doesn’t find anything like that. 

He does find out that Mokuba went to Yugi’s house that day. He wonders if Mokuba missed seeing him too. 

End

_This is where I leave you, sitting in a palace covered in gold inside my head._

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> This is my first fic of AO3 and I hope you liked it. I would love to hear any comments or reviews that you have. 
> 
> If anyone is interested in beta reading for future prideshipping fics please let me know! 
> 
> nightwalker365


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